COVINGTON - Weekend storms caused several power outages for city of Covington and Snapping Shoals EMC customers.

City of Covington Utilities Director Bill Meecham reported damage to power lines from trees and scattered lightning incidents on Saturday, beginning at about 2 p.m. Between 250 and 300 customers were affected in areas such as Ga. Highway 81 North, Airport Road, City Pond Road and Old Atlanta Road.

Power had been restored to most customers by 5:30 p.m., although a few isolated cases took longer, Meecham said.

An outage at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning affected parts of U.S. Highway 278, Alcovy and City Pond roads. The outage was caused by the failure of a switching cabinet, likely the result of lightning damage on Saturday, Meecham said.

About 250 customers were affected.

Power was restored to most by 9:15 a.m., although a few had to wait until about 11:30 a.m.

In addition, "There were a few scattered outages throughout the weekend affecting only limited customers," Meecham said. "This could have been a lot worse."

The outages were caused by a mixture of lightning, heavy wind, heavy rain and a few downed trees, according to spokeswoman Leigh-Anne Burgess. Crews were able to restore power to most customers within about six hours, she said.